Our Program Committee is currently developing the detailed program. However, you can see the 2012 Workshop description for a reasonable idea of what will happen:http://www.andinabbar.weebly.com/workshops.htmlThe format will consist of meetings, in small or large groups, every morning. Afternoons will be reserved for walking or other small group activities. There will be additional sessions in the evenings, for debate and/or the development of camaraderie amongst the attendees, accompanied by alcoholic or other beverages. We will include innovative methods designed specifically to encourage openness and debate.

The main themes for debate will be:Population genetics and adaptation Spatial ecology of weeds and site-specific management Seed banks, bud banks and their management

Other topics will inevitably be raised as the meeting progressesPopulation genetics and adaptation.These processes are fundamental to biology; techniques have advanced
rapidly. However, with the exception of
herbicide resistance, little has been done in relation to weeds other than to
describe variation. Appreciation of the
principles of population genetics by weed scientists is often rudimentary and
learned in a crop breeding rather than ecological context.Even in invasion ecology, it is common to assume
particular population genetics processes without actually demonstrating them in
action. It is likely that weeds and
invasive species will evolve in response to selection pressures other than
herbicides. However, in many cases the traits associated
with population vital rates may be so plastic that responses to factors such as climate
change will not involve significant adaptation and will not result in new weed
community composition. What are the important questions in
population genetics for weeds and invasive species? What are the methods most appropriate to
answering these questions? How do we get
better uptake/more effective use of these methods? How do we achieve better integration of weed
ecology, population genetics and herbicide research?Spatial ecology of weeds and site-specific management. Over the past three decades, numerous studies
have described
spatial patterns in weeds and invasive species. Theoretical dispersal research
has been extensive and focussed on wind (and to a much lesser extent animals); empirical
dispersal data are confined to a relatively small number of case studies; dispersal
has been added to population models to predict rates and patterns of spread. What are the main lessons learned from studies of spatial pattern and dispersal; what
do we still need to know? What other
spatial processes and factors are important?
There has been impressive work on detection and spatial herbicide application
technology: there has even been proof-of-concept in the field. But this has not resulted in the widespread
adoption of new technology for weed management or local weed impact assessment. Why is that? Is it simply a matter of investment, marketing
and barriers to adoption? Or have we not
been doing the right research? What is
it that we really need to do to move forward?
Spatial ecology also has clear implications for population genetics and
evolution: how could the two research topics be better integrated? Seed banks, bud banks and their management. There has been an enormous amount of work by
weed scientists describing seed banks (and in a few cases bud banks in clonal
species) and seedling emergence in response to management. But there are still significant gaps in our
knowledge, such as the influence of parental environment and fine-scale
interactions between soil physics and seed behaviour. Integrated Weed Management (eg to tackle
herbicide resistance) is based on the principle of managing seedbanks and seed
production, but sufficient data exists for only a few species and most models
are highly simplistic and unvalidated. Laboratory work has described the
germination requirements for the seeds of many species and has been combined
with field experiments to describe cycles of dormancy. These studies have led to predictive models
of seedling emergence. But despite all
this, most farmers merely pick perhaps one option to go with their herbicides,
rather than truly integrating the array of possible management options; there
also seems to be surprise when a particular species responds to a widespread
change in farming practices. Why has
most of the research work not affected weed management? Why is it that our predictive ability for
changes in community composition is still poor?
To what extent can we
hope to predict without consideration of inter- and intra-population
variability, or is that just too hard? What research is needed next? Have we adequately considered what will be
useful to managers?